VOLUME X, NUMBER 4 WINTER SOLSTICE 200 I

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION: FROM FALCONER TO FANATICUS AND BEYOND bYYACHAJ

The first successful cultivation of psilocybian mushrooms On a few occasions people ate mixed batches ofAgaricus and from Mexico was accomplished by the French mycologists P suhhalteatus, and experienced the first (involuntary) "trips" ROGERHElMand ROGERCAILLEUXinParis during the late in Western history (GARTZ1993). Hence, FALCONER'Sbook 1950s. The first kitchen cultivation methods for basement is still among the most informative publications for home shamans came to light in the 1970s. But the real break- cultivators of potent psilocybian mushrooms like Panaeolus throughs only recently became accessible to the public. cyanescens and P tropicalis. He describes mushroom cultiva- tion in cellars and greenhouses on horse manure compost in The roots of psilocybian cultivation techniques go back to better detail than any recent author. Introduced as "Mr. 18th century France, when Agaricus (white button) mush- Gardener's method," FALCONERevendevotes a full chapter rooms were first cultivated; King LOUISXIV (1643-1715) may on the yield-boosting effects of a casing-a top layer of soil have been among the original European mushroom grow- placed on the mushroom bed, made from loam (a mixture ers. The mushroom "sewing seed" (or spawn) was obtained of clay, sand, silt and organic matter). This important by digging up mycelium from meadows where wild agarics discovery was soon forgotten and only eighty years later grew and horses were active. The mycelium was then trans- '''rediscovered. ferred to special caves near Paris, set aside for this unique form of agriculture. From France, the gardeners of England The techniques for cultivating psilocybian mushrooms in the found mushrooms an easy crop to grow, requiring little la- 1950s were still largely based on the methods as described bor, investment, and space. English mushroom cultivation in FALCONER'Sbook.For instance, in 1956 the first 100grams increased in popularity, due to more experimentation with of cultivated Psilocybe mexicana was successfully grown on spawn and publicity in journals and magazines. In the late compost by ROGERHElM. The details of the methods of 19th century, mushroom production made its way across the HElM, and his collaborator ROGERCAILLEUX,were not Atlantic to the United States, where curious home garden- published in English before 1977, in the now hard-to-obtain ers in the east tried their luck at growing this unique crop. book Magic Mushroom Cultivation by the late Dr. STEPHEN Then, in 1891, the first book on mushroom growing was pub- POLLOCK,whowrites: lished, and it shed new light on the theory of cultivation on horse manure compost. WILLIAMFALCONER,amushroom Spawn of P mexicana was grown in flasks under sterile grower and experimenter from Long Island, agreed with the conditions on composted straw that had been well recommendations of agricultural journalists and compiled washed. Unwashed straw compost was placed in earth- their theories into Mushrooms: How to Grow Them; A Practi- enware pots and sterilized. The pots of compost were then inoculated with spawn from the flasksand set in a cal Treatise on Mushroom Culturefor Profit and Pleasure (avail- greenhouse.Afterabout twoweeksthe compost waswell able on-line at http://chla.library.comell.edu/ cgi-bin/ chla/ invaded by the myceliaand coveredwith a thin layerof chla-idx?notisid=AAM1556). casing material. The casing material consisted of an un- specified mixture of various sands and calcareous The early methods of finding, digging up, and perpetuating (chalky)earths. The greenhouse temperature oscillated the wild mycelium were uncertain and unreliable. The first between about 19to 25 centigrade. In three to sixweeks manufactured spawn combined a mixture of horse and cow after casing, mushrooms appeared. It was found that manure pressed into bricks-the original source being the spawn could not be easilygrown in the flasks unless the wild mycelium. The bricks were not sterilized, however, and compost was well washed prior to sterilization. In con- could harbor pathogens and weed fungi. Interestingly, the trast, unwashed compost was observed to be superior for obtaining mushroom fruit. Composted corn debris psilocybian Panaeolus suhhalteatus used to be a common (leavesand stalks) worked almost as well as composted weed mushroom when these classic methods were applied. straw for fruiting P mexicana in the claypots.

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Psilocybe mexicana was not the only species that was tested. advertisements in counter-culture newspapers and by the POLLOCKcontinues: thriving "head shop" businesses of the time. This pamphlet advised cultivating P. cubensis on compost in FALCONERstyle, Psilocybe caerulescens was grown in a similar manner but but starting from pieces of a fresh mushroom cap instead of would not produce fruit on composted straw. Composted collected mycelium. corn debris served as a suitable medium, however, for fruiting Psilocybe caerulescens in greenhouse culture. Less abundant crops of Psilocybe caerulescens were obtained OUTDOOR EXPERIMENTS using a mixture of straw and corn debris composts. In 1972, UNIVERSITYOFWASHINGTONstudents in Seattle Psilocybe semperviva readily fruited on com posted straw, discovered a mushroom that began to fruit abundantly on but yielded more luxuriant flushes on the corn debris bark mulch and lawns on the UNIVERSITYcampus.This event compost. Psilocybe mixaeensis produced mushrooms on triggered the development of outdoor cultivation techniques various composted media, such as wheat straw, corn for psilocybian mushrooms. According to JONATHANOTT, debris, and horse dung. Mexican strains of Psilocybe who wrote about this phenomenon in his books Hallucino- yungensis were fruited after five or more months of cul- genic Plants of North America (1976) and Teonandcatl: Hallu- ture on a moss medium in glass flasks. Psilocybe cinogenic Mushrooms of North America (1978), the mushrooms zapotecorum, a species first fruited on a medium of moss, was grown both on straw and horse dung composts in were usually found on the cedar bark mulch that the garden- glazed earthenware pots designed to retain water. The ers spread around landscaped areas of the campus. Intrepid mycelial laden compost was cased with calcareous sand student experimenters soon learned that these mushrooms and then completely submerged under water. Magnifi- were psychedelic, and their use as recreational drugs became cent Psilocybe zapotecorum mushrooms came up right very popular. An article in the student newspaper then through the water! This interesting phenomenon is in warned that the mushrooms were dangerous (despite the fact keeping with the "subaquatic" ecological nature of the that no illness resulting from the use of them was ever re- species. Psilocybe cubensis was fruited on cased horse ported), and the gardeners were instructed to destroy any dung compost in earthenware pots. Some specimens specimens and to put fungicides on the mulch. In 1974 they attained a full twenty centimeters (almost eight inches) fruited abundantly in Olympia and Tumwater, Washington, in pileus diameter. and again on the campus of the UNIVERSITYOFWASHING- TON.An increasing number of students learned that the old LITERATURE FROM UNDERGROUND French method of collecting mycelium and transplanting it In the two decades between the research of HElM and to fresh substrate worked extremely well for mushrooms of CAILLEUXandthe book of POLLOCK,feworiginal discoveries this group, which were later identified as belonging to the were published. "Underground" booklets and pamphlets be- "caramel caps." In fact, as mushroom pioneer PAULSTAMETS gan to circulate, some describing the cultivation of psilo- explains in his cultivators' bible, Growing Gourmet and Me- cybian mushrooms. Notable among these was The Psyche- dicinal Mushrooms, "they are common in urban and subur- delic Guide to Preparation of the Eucharist, a 1968 book that ban areas and are actually rare in natural settings. Idealloca- described cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis on agar, liquid cul- tions for collecting this mushroom are in the landscaped ture, uncased rye grain, and compost, and P. mexicana on property of government facilities: courthouses, libraries, potato dextrose yeast (PDY) agar and liquid culture. This utility companies, and even police stations." booklet also detailed the synthesis of psilocin and other psychedelics. An identical technique appeared at about the The main difficulty of the "caramel cap" Psilocybes, such as P. same time in another booklet, entitled The Turn On Book. In azurescens, P. bohemica, and P. cyanescens, was that they only 1970, a little booklet entitled A Key to the American Psilocybin could be harvested one season per year in cool climates (and (sic) Mushroom was published by LEONARDENOS.This con- they were nearly impossible to fruit in more controlled con- tained more detailed information on tissue culture tech- ditions). So in his 1977 book, POLLOCKpredominantly wrote niques, borrowed from scientific and popular literature. about mushrooms that could be grown all year round, like However, the cultivation techniques required too many ad- Panaeolus cambodginiensis, P. cyanescens, P. subbalteatus, ditives to the agar and were overly complicated; hence, this Psilocybe argentipes, P. baeocystis, P. caerulescens, P. coprophila, pamphlet did little to stimulate the cultivation of psilocybian P. cubensis, P.fasciata, P. semilanceata, P. subaeruginascens, P. mushrooms. Another pamphlet, Field Guide to the Psilocybin subaeruginosa, P. subcaerulipes, and P. zapotecorum. Most of (sic) Mushroom, appeared in 1972, and was sold through

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VOLUME X, NUMBER 4 WINTER SOLSTICE 200 I the tested species yielded less biomass, were oflower potency, weeks for mushrooms to appear on outdoor beds and and fruited much later than P. cubensis. Mexican strains of P. flushes may continue for over two months, but the frui- yungensis, for instance, fruited after five or more months of tionis largely dependent on rain. Rain is what it takes culture on a moss medium in glass flasks. "Such a lag is en- for successfuloutdoor mushroom growing.Without ad- equate rain, crops can be induced to appear by frequent tirely impractical for psilocybian mushroom fanciers," wrote watering with sprinklers or a hose set in place with a POLLOCKinthe introduction ofMagic Mushroom Cultivation, sprinkler attachment. Compost beds inoculated with "therefore, Iwill focus primarily on cultivation of species that Panaeolus myceliashould not be cased and it is not nec- can be grown easily and relatively rapidly." The rest of his essary to case compost beds when growing Psilocyhe book is almost exclusively dedicated to cultivation techniques cubensis (POLLOCK 1977). for the potent Panaeolus cyanescens and the robust Psilocyhe cubensis. Although Panaeolus cyanescens is among the most potent of the easy to grow psilocybians (STIJVE1992), it has not be- MORE COMPOST EXPERIMENTS come the most popular home-grown species. The main rea- The larger-scale techniques that POLLOCKdescribedwere still son is that this mushroom so far has only been grown on not very different from the ones presented in FALCONER'S manure. This may be a wonderful substrate for cultivators book. Industrial compost production for mushroom grow- in the countryside, but for basement shamans in urban ar- ing commonly uses about 95% straw and 5% horse manure eas it has disadvantages. In most big cities fresh organic horse for compost starter. According to POLLOCK,anexcellent com- manure is unavailable. Another problem is that the use of post recipe in the Pacific Northwest is created from a pickup manure as medium makes the grower unpopular with room- truck load of fresh leached cow manure available from dairy mates, considering the way it needs to be prepared-filling farms, 2-5 bales of well-soaked wheat straw, 25 pounds of a large plastic turkey baking bag with manure then adding horticultural gypsum, 5 pounds of cottonseed meal! oil, and one quart of water to moisten and cooking in the oven at commercial compost starter. In his compost experiments 2000 F for three hours. (The author of this very article has POLLOCKexperimented with several different types of straw: been forced to live on his own just because of this hobby.) wheat (Triticum aestivumi, oats (Avena sativa), barley (Hor- deum vulgare), JOHNSONgrass (Sorghum halepensei, TIMOTHY Fortunately, in 1960 the mycologist Dr. LEONR. KNEEBONE grass (Phleum pratensei, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and clovers published a small scale adaptation of the current industrial (Trifolium species), as well as manure of cattie, sheep, horse method of growing Agaricus mushrooms for use with and poultry. All proved to be useful to some extent, but horse Psilocyhe cuhensis (KNEEBONE1960). For the background of manure and wheat straw were the best. POLLOCKwrites: his discovery we have to return to the beginning of the 20th century, when FALCONER'Sbookwas the only available one Foroutdoor cultivation compost beds at least a foot high on the subject, the risk for Panaeolus suhhalteatus "weed" and several feet wide should be made. The beds are in- mushrooms was still severe, and the hunt for a better method oculated with spawn and kept moist by watering with a had just began. hose using a spray nozzle or running a lawn sprinkler system. It is necessary to water at least once a day in hot THE SPAWN OF SINDEN dry climates but not necessary to water at all in wet cli- mates. Spawn from canning jars or other containers is In 1903, after much experimentation, U.S. DEPARTMENTOF broken up and placed about six inches under the surface AGRICULTUREscientists produced the perfect pure-culture ofthe compost bed. A couple ofquarts ofspawn is plenty virgin Agaricus spawn. In 1915, pure culture spawn was pro- for a six foot long bed but more can be used to reduce duced on sterilized horse manure compost in bottles. The the chance of takeover by "weed" mushrooms. Outdoor development of uncontaminated horse manure spawn, how- compost cultivation works especiallywellfor coprophil- ever, did not eliminate the problem of obtaining productive, ous mushrooms such as Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocyhe reliable spawn. In 1930, PENNSYLVANISTATECOLLEGEem-A coprophila, and many Panaeolusspecies. There are other ployed Dr. JAMESW. SINDENto work on mushroom produc- magic mushrooms that can be grown this way,but none tion problems. During one of his first series of experiments are as easily fruited as dung-inhabiting species. In fact, he found a medium on which the mycelium would grow more beds of fresh uncomposted horse manure may be used to grow coprobious mushrooms outdoors, especially vigorously and that would provide a more uniform product: Panaeolus species. It usually takes about a month to six grain (specifically wheat), which was placed in flasks with a

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small amount of water and heat sterilized. On introduction of the mycelium, he found that it grew very vigorously and ( " in a manner entirely different than anything previously seen. .~. Thus grain spawn was born (U.S.A. Patent No. 1,869,517), (see www.mycocell.com/uspatent.htm) and has changed very little since.

KNEEBONE'Simportant discovery was that Psilocybe cubensis did not need compost, but could be fruited on SINDEN'S spawn (pure grain medium). POLLOCKfollowedKNEEBONE'S st(rtli'zod path further and tested grains/seeds of crimped oats (Avena r'tc. IZ sativa), hemp (Cannabis sativa), coffee grounds (Coffea arabicat, soy bean (Glycine maxi, rye grass (Lolium perennei, brown rice (Oryza sativa), rye (Secale cereale), milo (Sorghum vulgare), millet (Panicum miliaceumi, Canary seed (Phalaris canariensisi, wheat (Triticum aestivum) and corn (Zea mays). POLLOCKsoonconcentrated on cheap and commonly avail- able brown rice grains. He found that brown rice medium was highly selective for P cubensis (no other mushroom could be fruited on it). Indeed, the selective quality of brown rice protects newbie psilonauts against accidentally growing toxic mushrooms. But there are more reasons to think of brown rice as superb. In the 1980s, German mycologist Dr. JOCHEN GARTZ,went so far as to file a patent (No. 88-09773, Akad. Wiss. DDR) on brown rice after his discovery that this me- dium supported the cultivation of P cubensis of unprec-

This is Dr. STEPHEN POLLOCK'S rice cake technique of 1977 (draw- edented potency-1% psilocybin/psilocin by dry weight ing by POLLOCK), the predecessor of the PF TEK. A more low- (which almost equals Panaeolus cyanescensi, the highest tech process for producing SINDEN spawn is currently not natural potency ever reported of this mushroom. known.

If McALPINE'S agar medium is used to germinate the spores THE BROWN RICE MEDIUM and grow mycelium, and peroxidated par-boiled brown rice is For growers of today it is difficult to imagine how much work used as substrate, all steps can be performed without eye- dropper/syringe/pipette and without a dry vermiculite contami- it must have been to test so many mushrooms on so many nant barrier in an unsterile still-air environment. See WAYNE'S different substrates before a compost alternative was found manuals at www.mycomasters.comif you want to know why that met all demands (especially when we keep in mind that only peroxidated par-boiled brown rice can be used. cultivation techniques were in their infancy). Many experi- ments only resulted in huge outbreaks of green molds. Nev- Unfortunately the mycelium needs a lot more time to colonize brown rice when it grows from an agar wedge compared to a ertheless POLLOCKcame to a conclusion. Considering that liquid inoculation as in the PF TEK. But when it finally is colo- Psilocybe cubensis was the psilocybian of choice, he pointed nized, (OUNTZERO'S technique can be applied (both on the out brown rice as the most commonly available, most eco- agar culture and the colonized SINDEN spawn) to inoculate nomical, and therefore most convenient substrate for home lots of contaminant barrier-topped PFSubstrate jars by syringe cultivators. GARTz'discovery that highly potent P cubensis or pipette. In my experience liquid inoculations without a con- taminant barrier ("free pouring") in a nonsterile environment could be grown on brown rice was a huge bonus too. "Never- are too sensitive to contamination. theless," wrote GARTZ,"it appears unlikely that cultivation of Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms by laypersons will signifi- Note also that the moist vermiculite casing is missing in this cantly heighten the mushroom's popularity or widen its area drawing; while it is not necessary, it really promotes fruiting if it is added. of distribution anytime soon" (GARTZ1996).

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THE CASING LAYER The second problem with using grain spawn as fruiting sub- GARTZwasright. The solution ofthe compost problem came strate-especially by laypersons-is that it is extremely con- with a double price tag. The first problem was that yields on tamination sensitive. Without sophisticated techniques most pure grain substrates were unpredictable. An answer was not attempts are thwarted by the presence of bacteria and molds. found until 1971, when mycologist JAMESP. SANANTONIO For too many growers this meant that they had to invest in tried FALCONER'Sloamcasing on SINDEN'Sgrain spawn for laboratory equipment, an investment that they could only producing Agaricus brunnescens, with fabulous results. He recover through large-scale commercial production. showed that covering the mycelium (or vegetative state) of this mushroom with about half an inch of slightly alkaline According to PETERSTAFFORD,author of the Psychedelics soil could greatly increase the yield by causing it to "fruit" Encyclopedia, this was not what the authors of Psilocybin had repeatedly in "flushes" appearing periodically. in mind. STAFFORDwrites:

At http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ diggers350/message/ [With the publication of their book they J hoped that us- ers cultivating these mushrooms in their homes would 316 is a post in which DENNISMcKENNAclaims to be the be independent of the illicit market, which at the time person who first tested SANANTONIo'sfinding on Psilocybe was producing and selling many spurious products. Fur- cubensis. He writes: ther, they hoped that this technique would become a permanent part of the subculture, immune from surveil- Basically, I developed the technology for growing lance and anti-drug crusades. To a certain extent, these cubensis on sterilized rye in mason jars. Actually, alii ends have been met. However, the authors did not real- did was adapt the technology first developed by J.P. San ize that there would be as many large growers as have Antonio. [...11just adapted the method to cubensis and emerged. it worked. Your tax dollars at work! It was Terence who saw the entrepreneurial possibilities in the method and Their technique was still so complicated that only a small helped to scale-up the operation. percentage of users have even tried it. A large pressure- cooker is needed, and many couldn't get the hang of the In Pharmacotheon (1993), JONATHANOrr noted that the ma- spore-growing and sterilization requirements for inocu- son jars (American one-quart home-canning jars) of grain lation of the rye jars. substrate permeated by mycelia were sold for about $10.00 each. DENNISand TERENCEMcKENNAthen worked together The reason that such equipment was necessary was that the to write a book about the method, along with illustrations McKENNASprimarily reproduced the existing 1932 patent by KATHLEENHARRISON and photographs by JEREMY of SINDEN.Mushroom spores were first germinated on agar, BIGWOOD.That book, Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower's and the resulting mycelium was transferred to grain jars. To Guide-A HandbookJor Psilocyhin Enthusiasts (1976) became, speed up the colonization of the substrate the grains had to the single best-selling counter-cultural drug book ever pub- be mixed every few days by shaking the jars. Because brown lished. The casing mixture the authors recommended was rice usually is too sticky to be shaken, the authors recom- made with 3.5 liters fine vermiculite, 4.0 liters washed fine mended the less productive (and in urban environments of- sand, 2.5 liters peat moss and 2.0 liters finely crushed oyster ten difficult to obtain) rye grains. Finally the colonized grains shells. had to be covered with a casing mixture. In the laboratory all these steps are performed in a sterile work-space. The av- Just in time before the publication of his own book, POLLOCK erage basement shaman lacks such an environment, and found a shortcut to the mixture by using potting soil that unfortunately all the McKENNA'Soffered as a solution was a comes pre-mixed with plenty of vermiculite, peat moss, and poorly designed glovebox. sand. In 1983 the substrate was further simplified when mycologist EDMONDBADHAMfound that damp brown rice The single most contamination-sensitive step has always with a casing layer of only moist vermiculite was sufficient- been the transfer of a colonized agar "wedge" into an open the results of his experiments were published in the journal jar of sterile grains. However, the McKENNASmentioned an Mycologia and in his thesis, Cultural Studies on the Mushroom alternative method. In the first edition of their manual they Psilocybe cubensis (BADHAM1982, 1983). write:

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Sterilizea bit of water, take up about 10 ccin a presteril- thus the choice for non-sticky rye grains) became unneces- izedsyringeand injectit onto the surfaceofan agarmyce- sary. And instead of shouldered MASONjars the author rec- lial culture (slant test-tube cultures are ideal for this). ommended straight or slightly tapered BALLor KERRcan- Resealthe culture and swirlthe water around vigorously ning jars, which could be removed from the substrate. This until fragments of mycelium become visiblesuspended simple idea enabled the harvesting of mushrooms that grew in the water. Then take up the water-mycelialsuspen- at the sides of the substrate, without needing to break the sion in the syringe, and inject 1 or 2 cc's into each jar. jar. Mycelialgrowthshould becomevisiblefrom oneor more points in the jar by 3-4 days after inoculation. To top it off, PSYLOCYBEFAN- They also described liquid spore ATICUSreplaced the moist whole inoculations of the agar: kernel rice with an airy mixture of powdered brown rice, ver- [Thespores]canbe miculite, and water. To PF's own scraped into 10 ml surprise, this mixture acted as of sterilized water, ~ a fruiting substrate and casing then dilute to 100 ml layer in one: the mushrooms by adding sterile wa- fruited all over the substrate ter, take up 2-3 ml of Q, cake, making a separate cas- diluted spore solution ing almost superfluous. The into a syringe, and \~ Psilocybe cubensis myce- point-inoculatethe petri plate byplacinga drop of lium also colonized this the solution at two or substrate much faster three separate points on than plain brown rice. the agar. More important was that this "PF Substrate," Strangely enough, they never as it became known, put their techniques together, ,- "\, did not need a pres- and these ideas are dropped ~~~X"~ sure canner to get entirely from later editions of ...•..-~.. .~}' sterilized-one hour their manual. of boiling was sufficient (at least at sea level). The combination of liquid inocula- THE NEW tion with PF Substrate, made the three most problematic TECHNIQUES EMERGE parts of the McKENNASmethod-glove box, agar transfers, The credit for combining these techniques goes to the au- and pressure canner=-obsolete. (Pictorial overview of the PF thor of a September 1991 publication titled the Psylocybe TEKby HANSVOGT,1996.) Fanaticus Technique (or PF TEK). This manual described, for the first time, the method of injecting a spore solution di- . Other PF innovations were the "Double Chamber Ter- rectly onto a fruiting substrate of brown rice and vermicu- rarium"-a growing environment designed to create a foggy lite. The touch of genius in the technique was in the use of a atmosphere that mushrooms like best to grow in, but which vermiculite casing layer as a contamination barrier during at the same time protected substrate cakes against puddles the inoculation and substrate colonization. The glovebox was of sprayed water, and his cold desiccation drying method- no longer necessary. A syringe needle could easily penetrate mushrooms were first pre-dried in a sieve and then put in an the layer and be withdrawn without exposing sterilized sub- open Ziploc'" baggie that was placed in a glass jar with a one strate to unsterile air. Incoming airborne contaminants could inch layer of calcium chloride on the bottom. The jar was not germinate in the casing nor reach the moist substrate. closed and put in a refrigerator for a week. The calcium At the same time, the mycelium below the layer could thrive chloride was dried by baking the jar, without lid, in an oven. because filtered air exchange remained possible. By choos- ing half-pint rather than quart jars, the frequent shaking (and From its first publication, the PF TEK was an instant suc- cess. As the world wide web became increasingly accessible,

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many PF TEK-based cultivation techniques were published on-line (see www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_cultivation.shtml).To- gether, these techniques have been downloaded over a million times, which may make the PF TEK the best distributed cultivation technique for any organ- ism of all time.

In 1996 the popularization of the PF TEK accelerated tremendously, when the Internet newsgroup alt.nature.mushrooms was founded. The newsgroup soon turned into a PSYLOCYBEFANATICUSfanclub. By 1998 most of the Psilocybe cubensis growers on the newsgroup had moved to the newly created alt. drugs. mushrooms. At the same time, law enforcement agencies in Minne- sota were beginning to see an increased number of mushroom growing opera- tions. Since it is illegal to possess any material, compound, mixture or prepara- tion that contains any quantity of psilocybin and/or psilocin-while mush- rooms themselves are not specifically scheduled-it became important for law enforcement personnel and forensic chemists to know in what stage of devel- opment the psychoactive drugs can be identified. Since many articles are pub- ABOVE you see the dry vermiculite contami- lished about the production of psilocybin by mycelial cultures on agar and liq- nant barrier in action. It is an original PF in- uid media, the FBI forensic sciences laboratory first tested the spore-syringes vention: a needle can penetrate it without and later the mycelial mat on the PF Substrate for controlled substances (see exposing the substrate to unsterile air. It al- lows respiration of the mycelium, doubles up www.fanaticus.com/forensic.htm).Psilocybin and psilocin were not found, and as casing layer (moisten the layer when the repeated tests confirmed the lack thereof. It was determined that the mycelium substrate is colonized) and is re-usable. In my "knot" stage of the mushroom was the earliest point when the drugs could be opinion, no filter disk can match it in simplic- detected. In other words: when PF Substrate is used, the colonized cakes are ity and effectiveness. not illegal before the pinning stage of the mushrooms. (Be aware that such cakes BELOW presents the inoculation procedure. can be considered illegal when they are used as "precursors" to produce a psilo- When the shot-glass has cooled down and the cybin/psilocin-containing crop, which certainly can be argued if the cakes are needle is wiped clean with alcohol, just lift seized along with harvested mushrooms!) Why the non-pinning PF Substrate the tinfoil and inject. Place the foil back on doesn't produce the drugs, and agar or liquid cultures do produce them, is still top and write the mushroom genotype, the date, and the total weight of the jar on the an unanswered question. But the advantage for basement shamans is clear. foil.

LEAVE IT TO A HIPPIE ... The best use of these findings was made in 1999 by a home-cultivator nicknamed "HIPPIE."As often is the case, innovations in simplifying a given task are made by people who hate doing it but have to. HIPPIEwas among the laziest mushroom cultivators of the last decade. He imple- mented the FBI findings (without know- ing it, by the way, since he had not yet read the FBI article) into the "mycro-tek." In HIPPIE'Sown words:

I have discovered that it is feasible to grow decent crops of high potency shrooms with no terrarium, no perlite, no misting, no ventilation, [nada], What

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is "rnycro-tek,"you ask? It is essentially the PFTEKcut or KERRcanning jars that are recommended in the PF TEK in half. Cakesare made and inoculated as per standard may be replaced by a large shot-glass, as is shown below. Such PF TEK Instead of incubating/ colonizing in darkness, a glass does not break during the sterilization process, pro- the jars are exposed to light [through] the entire coloni- vided that it is not directly placed on the bottom of the pan. zation process. This triggers in vitro pinning, usually by The metal screw-lid of canning jars can safely be replaced by the time the jar isfullycolonized.There isno "birthday." tinfoil. And if the dry vermiculite top layer is at least two fin- Instead of being birthed, and fruited in humidified ter- rariums, the cakes are left in the jars, exposed to light, gers deep, it is not necessary to inoculate the substrate and kept warm. Thepins willcontinue to grow,conform- through four pinholes-the tinfoil covering can simply be ing to the jar's shape. The fruit are allowedto grow until lifted and replaced after inoculation. The needle of the sy- either the caps begin to open, or [there are] any signs of ringe does not need to be flame-sterilized for this step-it is damage to the pins. Thejar lid is removed, cakeshaken sufficient to wipe it clean with a tissue that was soaked in out, pins/ shrooms harvested,then the cakesarereturned 140-200 proof alcohol (which may be denatured). to the jars for additional flushes. (www.fanaticus.com/ hip-tek.htm) Another recent improvement is the method to supply water to the mycelium. In the basic PF TEK the cakes are protected HIPPIE'Sobservation was correct except for two things: ex- against direct watering by being placed in an environment posing the jars to daylight through "the entire colonization where a foggy atmosphere can be replicated. HIPPIEfound process" is not necessary, nor are the BALL/KERRcanning that it is also possible to rehydrate dried-out cakes by keep- jars. As early as 1980, the aforementioned mycologist ing them for 12-24 hours under water, a technique that EDMONDR. BADHAMhad published an article about the ef- largely parallels the rehydration method for Lentinula edodes fect oflight upon mushroom formation of Psilocybe cubensis as described in Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms (BADHAM1980). He found that a lighting period as short as by PAULSTAMETS.Yetanother-and often easier-method 0.0025 second was sufficient to initiate pinning, provided is to add water to the dry top layer of the cake (PSYLOCYBE that the light was of a wavelength of max 460 nm (blue day- FANATICUSrecommendstwo such layers: one on top and one light) and that the substrate was fully colonized. Combined at the bottom of the cake). To ensure that too much water with HIPPIE'Sobservations, this meant that "backpack culti- isn't added, the glasses should be weighed immediately af- vation"-as well as sending colonizing cakes through the ter sterilization. After each harvest, water is added to the top mail-was possible. Combined with the FBI finding, this layer,but just enough that the substrate glass weighs the same meant that colonizing mushroom cakes would be legal as weight as it did in the beginning. Also worth mentioning is a long as the cakes were kept in total darkness. Both ideas were simple method to keep the glasses cool after pinning-im- successfully tested during the summer of2001. Also, the BALL portant to do because the psilocybin content is retained best

This is a Slim Matias Romero (SMR) genotype of Psilocybe cubensis grown with the HIPPIE's"mycro-tek" (PFTEK without terrarium). The SMR has PF's "classic" Matias Romero (MR) as a parent (it came up from PF spores), It is a mutation that first appeared in January 1997 in the Netherlands. The SMR differs from PF's classic MR in that it has a more Stropharia-like shape; i.e. scales on the caps of the ma- ture mushrooms (not bald as you would expect from a true Psilocybe) and a persistent ring or annulus around the stem.

During 2001 the SMR proved to be exceptionally useful for the "mycro-tek". The flesh blues in seconds after bruising, the minimum psychoactive dose is about 0.6 g dried, it easily produces very dark spore-prints, and about 1/6 of the dry weight of the brown nee IS converted into dry mushrooms with unopened caps in 2-3 months.

The SMR is currently being tested and compared to other genotypes by PSYLOCYBEFANATICUS.Ifhe finds the SMR as good as I think it is, the genotype will probably be availablevia PF in spring 2002.

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at temperatures around 200 C. Even in the hottest summers McALPINE discovered that wishful thinking can saddle the the substrate glass can be kept cool when it is put in a sock, wisher with a lot of work. He tested several hundred chemi- dipped in cold water, and hung somewhere. The jar is then cals (each in thirty different concentrationsl), as an additive cooled by evaporation of the water so it is important to keep in his agar media. Only one proved to be useful: hydrogen

0 the sock wet. Further cooling of the cakes to 4 C also is use- peroxide (H202). In The Orchid Review of January 1947 we ful-colonized but pre-pinning cakes can be stalled from read that he mixed a 30% solution of hydrogen peroxide in fruiting for up to 3 months in this manner, only to then fruit the medium to give final concentrations of 0.0003-0.3%. on demand when they are returned to room-temperature. Within the range of 0.009-0.18%, he found that fungal growth was inhibited but seed germination was not im- By using the new simplified methods it has been demon- paired. Higher concentrations killed both the fungus and the strated that more than 1/6 of the dry weight of the brown rice seeds, while lower concentrations did not kill the fungus. powder in the "maximum fruiting formula" ofPF Substrate McALPINEwrote: (= 2 volume parts of vermiculite with a kernel size of 0-3 mm, 1 volume part of powdered brown rice, and 1 volume The agar does not even need to be steam-sterilized for part of water) can be converted into dried Psilocybe cubensis this but just heated to dissolve in its components. While mushrooms (young, with unopened caps) in as little as two still warm, the agar medium is poured into small jars months. (For these results, the mushroom genotypes used containing the peroxide dissolved in a minimum amount of water. The jars used for comparative purposes were were those distributed by PSYLOCYBEFANATICUSunderthe one-ounce, clear-glass, screwcap ointment jars. So soon names "Matias Romero" and "Hawaiian.") as the agar has set, dry orchid seeds are evenly distrib- uted over the surface. The lid is then screwed home and All the recent good news however can not mask the fact that the jar placed in a suitable location for the seeds to de- the PF TEK has one weak point: the production of uncon- velop. Hydrogen peroxide does not change the reaction taminated inoculant still requires a skilled cultivator and of the medium: it is highly fungo-static and does not de- a sterile working place. The method as described at compose into toxic substances. This method probably www.fanaticus.com/syringe.htmis as simple as possible, but more closely than any other before described, duplicates still not suited for backpack cultivators. the natural process.

For producing viable spore-water, this need for a sterile en- McALPINEwas quite right. Hydrogen peroxide (water with vironment may be forever true. But for mycelium-water, new one additional oxygen atom), is a chemical that is extremely techniques recently became available. And as usual, the effective in destroying single-celled organisms: the extra oxy- "new" techniques came with an interesting history, which in gen is very reactive and burns holes in cell membranes. Since this case goes back almost half a century. hydrogen peroxide is made from (and decomposes in) water and oxygen it is easily formed in nature. It is the among the first chemicals that life forms need to defend themselves ORCHID SEED BREAKTHROUGH against. Since single-celled organisms (bacteria, yeasts, In the 1940s, the orchid grower K.L. McALPINEwas looking spores) have but one cell they can lose, they are the primary for a better method to clean orchid seeds prior to germinat- victims of this chemical, while each and every multi-cellular ing them on a sterile agar medium. This was necessary be- organism (as well as a colony of single-celled organisms) has cause the agar was easily contaminated by the bacteria and peroxidase enzymes to defend itself. Many such organisms molds typically found on dirty seeds. Seeds were routinely even produce hydrogen peroxide as an antibacterial weapon. cleaned with sodium hypochlorite, but in many cases a bit Bees for instance, produce hydrogen peroxide to keep col- of this disinfectant ended up in the agar medium, which ef- lected nectar and honey (a perfect medium for most molds) fectively killed the plant over time. McALPINEsat down and sterile. pondered what sterilizing agent (as well as its possible prod- ucts of decomposition) might kill the undesired fungi, with- Unfortunately, McALPINE'S pioneering work was not fol- out affecting the orchid seeds or the reaction of the medium. lowed up, perhaps because hydrogen peroxide was generally Furthermore, its effective concentration should not be criti- believed to be an unstable, even explosive, compound. In- cal. "Such a substance," wrote McALPINE later, "could be deed, it was such a compound in McALPINE'Stime. But since added directly to the culture medium and the seeds then 1950, new methods for keeping hydrogen peroxide stable sown with complete disregard to sterility."

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were implemented (a tiny bit of phosphoric acid did the via www.mycomasters.com) to anyone who wants to use per- trick). Also, 3% peroxide, which is much safer to work with, oxide techniques in his or her cultivation routine, as perox- became widely available. Still, it would take almost four de- ide is only useful in specific occasions. If used in the wrong cades before the botanist RICHARD SNOW rediscovered way peroxide will not protect against contamination-c-or McALPINE'S method and published commentary about it in even worse, work too well and kill everything, including the the American Orchid Society Bulletin of February 1985. desired mushroom mycelium.

SNOW tested McALPINE'S findings by deliberately inoculat- It is remarkable the only peroxide approach that has proven ing a culture medium with a mold, and found that a concen- its usefulness in a PF TEK environment, is one that didn't tration of 0.1% hydrogen peroxide killed the mold, while con- make it to the second edition of WAYNE'Smanual. It is the centrations between 0.01-0.05% didn't harm its growth. technique for making peroxidated liquid inoculants. In the first edition, WAYNEwrites: Nine years later SNOW'S article was read by RUSH WAYNE,a would-be mushroom cultivator who was not too strict in Here's what I have done: I clean my blender out well with housekeeping routines, living in a dusty house with a refrig- soap and hot water, rinse with tap water, then rinse the erator full of green and white fuzzy things. For some reason blender and a lid with hailing water (get a pair of heavy WAYNEdecided not to use his time to clean everything up, rubber gloves for doing this kind of thing and you'll have far fewer scalds). Next I fill the blender most of the way but to find a way to grow mushrooms despite the load of con- with boiling water and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Then taminants. And as we saw earlier with HIPPIE, this is the per- I empty out the water and cool the blender with the lid fect attitude to formulate a breakthrough. After WAYNEhad in place. Now the blender is ready for use. With my jars read about the peroxide concentrations that weren't harm- of sterilized grain at the ready (previously treated with ful to harm the mold, he decided to perform a few tests peroxide), I add enough sterile water to the blender to with mushroom mycelia. As WAYNEwrote in the first edi- cover the blades, and one or two milliliters of3% hydro- tion of his 1996 manual Growing Mushrooms with Hydrogen gen peroxide as well. Then I cut a donut of mycelium out Peroxide: of an agar culture with a flamed scalpel (leaving behind the outer edge and the center of the culture) and care- What followed was a fairly complicated and non-linear fully drop this donut into the blender. With two or three process oflearning about growing various mushrooms, one-second bursts of the blender, the agar is chopped trying different concentrations, learning about different into modest-sized chunks. At this point, the peroxide in culture media and how they interacted with the mush- the blender begins to bubble off oxygen rapidly because rooms and the peroxide. trying various degrees and tech- of the enzymes released by cell breakage, so I immedi- niques of pasteurization and sterilization, going back ately free-pour the resulting slurry into my waiting spawn over earlier ground with better pH measurements, ex- jars, trying to add about 15 to 20 mls per jar. Finally I perimenting with supplements, tracking down sources seal the jars and shake them to distribute the slurry. of contamination, tightening my procedures, and on and Growth can be observed from the larger chunks of agar on, until I developed some fairly reliable guidelines for in two or three days." what I was doing. It all took far longer than I ever would have guessed. But the upshot of it was that, yes, hydro- In the second edition of 1999, WAYNEchanged his mind: gen peroxide can be used to help keep mushroom cul- ture media free of contaminants without killing the [Flor two reasons. The first is that any method of inocu- mushroom cultures themselves. lating a liquid culture is likely to require blenderizing the inoculum (or in some other way breaking up the myce- Eventually WAYNEfound a whole collection of specialized cul- lium), which releases significant quantities of peroxide- tivation techniques for mushrooms, all without the need for decomposing enzymes into the medium upon inocula- a pressure canner or sterile working environment. Most of tion. The second reason is that, even assuming the first problem could be overcome, I would still expect the per- the techniques are meant for indoor cultivation of non- oxide concentration to decline rapidly in a liquid culture psilocybian mushrooms on bulk substrates of sawdust and as the intact fungal material with its internal peroxide- straw. They are not very useful for cultiva- Psilocybe cubensis decomposing enzymes circulates throughout the liquid. tion in backpacks and shot-glasses. Nevertheless, I cannot The decline in peroxide could be compensated for by over-recommend WAYNE'Swritings on this topic (available regular addition offresh peroxide, but this might require

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a method of measuring peroxide concentration in very small wedge out of the cake and place it in the syringe bar- dilute solutions. rel. Remove the syringe barrel from the cake and re-insert the plunger. Point the needle upwards and eject the air from But in January 200l an improved and simplified technique the syringe. Put the glass back on the substrate cake and store to make peroxidated mycelium-water appeared at the this "mother cake" in the fridge. If everything is right you alt.drugs.mushrooms newsgroup, written by "COUNTZERO," .will now have a clean piece of cake in a clean empty syringe. who claimed that: Now draw 1 cc of cold, clean (tap or bottled) water into the Youjust need to cut a piece of mycelium from a cake that syringe, 0.2 cc of 3% hydrogen peroxide (preferably from a [you] just birthed and quickly put it in a jar full of dis- fresh unopened bottle) and the cleanest air you have avail- tilled water and some pieces of glass which you should able (you may draw in air from just above an alcohol lamp's have sterilized and let it cool down. Seal the jar again flame to ensure that it is clean).Shake the syringe vigorously, and [shake it like] hell so the mycelium will break to pieces (because of the glass). Add 1 cc of 3% hydrogen eject the air from the syringe (needle pointing upwards) and peroxide and let it sit for a day, shaking [occasionally I. fill the syringe with clean cold water. Allow the peroxide to Then draw the water into syringes. A small piece of myce- work for five minutes and then inoculate a new glass ofPF lium can give you many strong syringes. But you'll have Substrate with it. to use them within a week or so.If used immediately the germination is massive.

Strangely enough, WAYNE and COUNTZERO, are both right: peroxidated slurries can only be used in combination with a contaminant barrier, such as the dry vermiculite top layer in the PFTEK. Peroxidated slurries cannot be poured without an extreme risk for contamination, but only transported by pipette or syringe. And mycelium-water does not have a long shelf-life compared to spore-water. It is these problems that this article will now address, by outlining a new simple add- on technique to the PF TEK-an original method that en- ables backpack cultivators to "copy" a just colonized sub- strate cake. In short, I recommend that one follow COUNT- ZERO'S process, but without glass, presterilized water, or an extra jar. It only works with a just-colonized cake that has not been out of the glass yet, when performed on a clean tabletop and in a still air environment (no wind).

IT'S A PIECE OF CAKE ... IN A SYRINGE BARREL First, get a glass with a substrate cake-preferably one that isjust recently colonized. Place it in a wind-free environment on a clean table top (ifyou work in the kitchen, close the doors and windows). Bring a small pan of water to a boil. Fill an empty syringe with boiling water. Place a sharp knife with the blade in the pan of boiling water and turn off the heat. Place the substrate glass upside down on a piece of paper on the table top. After a minute or so, empty the syringe back into the pan. Then take the plunger out of the syringe barrel, put the plunger in the hot water, remove the glass from the substrate cake and stick the empty syringe, needle down, in A piece of substrate cake inside the syringe barrel with the plunger the top of the cake. Get the knife out of the hot water, cut a balanced on top, ready to be made into a mycelium slurry.

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ALTERNATIVES? spore-syringes for $10.00 or less, there is the question of There are two fairly sketchy alternatives for keeping a whether or not the techniques required to collect spores, "mother cake" in the fridge. One is to make peroxidated germinate them in test tubes, and make peroxidated myce- mycelium-water with COUNTZERo'Stechniqueand store that. lium-water are really worth pursuing, since these steps will The other is to not use a mother cake but copy each cake at take more than an hour to complete, and for many people the moment it is colonized (making copies from copies, from an hour of their time is worth more than $10.00. Especially copies, etc.). While both of these alternatives may look like if a spore-syringe is obtained from one of the vendors that shortcuts, they are dead-ends in reality. guarantee viability, it will be difficult to find a more cost ef- fective method. At the time I wrote this article, PSYLOCYBE The reason for not storing mycelium-water was mentioned FANATICUSofferedthe best guarantee of viability, stating: earlier by WAYNEand COUNTZERO.Ifthere is plenty of per- "The syringes are absolutely guaranteed to be clean, viable oxide in the water it will overpower the peroxidase enzymes and authentic, or your money refunded or syringes replaced and kill the mycelium over time. If, on the other hand, the until satisfaction is achieved." peroxidase enzymes manage to destroy the peroxide, the mycelium-water is prone to contamination. But even if no THE FUTURE contamination occurs, Psilocybe cubensis mycelium-water The combination of the spore-syringe, the powdered brown doesn't have a long shelf-life compared to spore-water. It is rice/vermiculite substrate, and the dry vermiculite contami- much better to store solid spawn. nant barrier, into one method for backpack cultivation may very well be the ultimate simplification for Psilocybe cubensis. Making copies from copies is not a good idea either, because The large shot-glass method links up the PF TEK with the no living organism is designed for an unlimited amount of most recent developments for mass production of other ed- cell divisions. Mycelium is no exception. Eventually it will ible mushrooms. In the third edition of the mushroom go senescent and lose the ability to make mushrooms. The cultivator's bible Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms idea to keep a mother cake for cloning is meant to delay that (TENSPEEDPRESS,2000), author PAULSTAMETSexplainsthis moment as long as possible by maintaining a young cell line. as follows:

So eventually each cultivator has to germinate a fresh strain The ultimate shortcut for culturing mushrooms is via from spores. Since spores are unicellular it is not possible to spore mass!liquid-inoculation directly into fruiting sub- make viable peroxidated spore-water. Fortunately, even in strates (p. 133). Bottle culture is an effective means for an unsterile environment it is possible to germinate spores growing a variety of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms on sterilized substrates. Currently, Asian growers have in a test tube without the addition of peroxide. Youonly need adapted bottle culture, originally designed for the easy a lighter to do it. (Obtain the second volume of WAYNE'S cropping ofEnoki mushrooms (Flammulina velutipesi, to manual if you want to read about this process.) the cultivation of many other gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, including Lion's Mane (Hericiumerinaceusi, With these new techniques it is finally possible to grow mush- Buna-shimeji (Hypsizygustessulatust, Reishi (Ganoderma rooms from spores or mycelium without the need of a sterile lucidumi, Wood Ears (Auricularia polytrichat, and some working space and without the need of buying a spore- varieties of Oyster mushrooms. The advantage of bottle syringe. However, these methods are probably not a real sub- culture is that the process can be highly compartmental- stitute for the spore-syringe. This is because the germination ized and easily incorporated into the many high-speed of mushroom spores on a medium other than the fruiting production systems adapted from other industries. With the natural evolution of techniques, Asian cultivators substrate (and the production of a mycelium slurry which have replaced bottles with similarly shaped, cylindrical can be injected in the latter) easily requires one to three ex- bags. Many growers in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan pre- tra weeks compared to a simple inoculation by spore-syringe. fer this hybrid method. Liquid-inoculation of sterilized, More important is that the new techniques for making myce- supplemented medium allows for inoculation methods lium slurries are still not as "idiot proof" (= contamination resembling the high-production systems seen in a soda proof) as the spore-syringe method, provided that the spore- pop factory. With reengineering, such high-speed assem- syringe is obtained from a vendor that guarantees the viabil- bly-line machinery could be retrofitted for commercial ity of it. As well, considering that several vendors now offer bottle and bag cultivation. (pp. 191-193)

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PF TEK-like methods equally catch on in introductory textbooks on microbiology and biotechnology (see ",'vvw.fpl.fsJed.us/documnts/PDF1997/croan97a.pdf). It is @)A.C~~ivccul8ITS now established that Psilacybe cubensis is the primary candi- date for easy biosynthesis of psilocin and psilocybin. The shot-glass version of the PF TEK is the easiest method for Plants and Seeds professional and beginning cultivators and the "Matias Romero" and "Golden Teacher" varieties of P cubensis are the best performing mushrooms on brown rice powder and Various Ariocarpus ... vermiculite (at least for the moment). But this does not mean Epithelantha ... Pelecyphora ... that all innovation has ceased on the psilocybian frontier- obscure Trichocereus species including new hybrids at least two new directions are being currently surveyed. The and cristateimonstrose first one is the search for other, preferably more potent, San Pedros and others . mushroom species that can be fruited on grain-based me- Turbinicarpus ... Aloe . dia. In the 1980s, GARTZreported success with P bohemica, Bursera (source of copal) . P natalensis and Gymnopilus purpuratus. At the web-based Delosperma Ipomoea . forum www.shroomery.org are a couple of beautiful pictures Pedilanthus Sceletium . from another German researcher named ELECTROLURCH, and more! who fruited a new strain of the majestic P zapatecarum that he had collected in Mexico. Every month, more "new" cultivable Psilacybe species are reported about on this We also offer an extensi ve guide and similar forums, such as www.theforestfloor.org, to grafting cacti and other succulents. www.mycotopia.net, and alt.drugs.mushrooms. Our catalog is fully illustrated, The other interesting direction is the formulation of a growth and loaded with ethnobotanical medium that enables psilocybian fungi to biosynthesize and horticultural information. tryptamines that are usually created artificially in a labora- tory, like 4-hydroxy-DET, 4-hydroxy-DPT, and their Please send $2.00 to receive a catalog and additional rare plant & seed phosphoryloxy counterparts. Other interesting psychoactive supplements throughout the year. compounds that could possibly be biosynthesized this way are ergine. 4-hydroxy-aMT, baeocystine, norbaeocystine, non-phosphoryl esters of methylated alkyl tryptamines, and 5-substituted alkyl tryptamines. For these experiments the sclerotia-forming grassland psilocybians Canacybe cyanapus, Inacybe aeruginascens, Psilacybe mexicana, P semilanceata and Sacred P tampanensis as well as some non-sclerotia-formers like P azurescens, Panaealus cyanescens, P trap icalis , and Pluteus Succulents salicin us might be very useful. Yet none of these species cur- (Dept rently has a simple, established, well-performing, non- POB 781 ER) sterile in vitro method of cultivation. "Designer biosynth- Sebastopol. CA 95 q73 esis" via mushrooms is a largely uncharted territory. USA In short there is still plenty to discover for the basement sha- man who has just started his or her hobby. Much of the equip- ment of the 20th century is no longer needed, so not being skilled in laboratory techniques is no longer an excuse. The only necessary ingredient for a breakthrough is a curious mind, as the days of easy home-cultivation and independence from "street dealers" have definitely arrived .•

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